ASF Mexico


The American School Foundation is an independent, coeducational, non-profit day school for international students aged 3 to 20, located in Mexico City. Founded in 1888, it is the oldest operating accredited American School outside the United States.
Over 2,400 students from more than 40 countries attend the school's Bondojito campus. English is the language of instruction with the exception of a fully bilingual program in the Lower School and courses in Spanish at the secondary level. The school currently hires about 250 international faculty.
The campus facilities, academic programs and extracurricular activities are designed to be similar in quality to those offered in the best independent U.S. College Preparatory Schools. This includes a 17-acre campus with four libraries, science labs in each school, and over 600 computers in classrooms, three indoor gymnasiums, an indoor heated pool, a football stadium, lighted tennis courts, track, and various athletic fields.
The school grants three diplomas for students graduating from its Upper School: the Mexican diploma of the Secretaría de Educación Pública, the American diploma, and the International Baccalaureate.

History

The American School was founded on August 6 with a starting class of nine boys and girls attending kindergarten in the private home of oilman John Davis on Iturbide Street, near what is now Bucareli and Reforma. The lessons were taught in English by Mr. Davis’ mother-in-law, Bessie Files. In 1894, With a growing student body the school became the “Mexico Grammar School,” and moved to a rented building on Calle Colón. In 1902, H.H. Cronyn and Charles E. Cummings, a key figure in the consolidation of The American School, are the superintendent and Board president, respectively, by this time, and are credited with helping the school move forward after its wartime troubles. Charles E. Cummings was Board president for most of the first 16 years of the 20th century. Now housed in a larger building on Industria Street in Colonia San Rafael, the school adds a high school and accordingly changes its name to the Mexico City Grammar and High School. Enrollment is 455.
Between 1905 and 1908, The American School Association is formed by a number of Mexico City businessmen, with Paul Hudson as the first president and Schuyler Herron as the superintendent until 1908. The breakout of the Mexican Revolution in 1910 curtailed foreign investment and decreasing school enrollment. The school remains open throughout most of the conflict, although it does briefly close its doors during the events of the Decena Trágica, ten days of violence in Mexico City following the assassination of President Francisco I. Madero and Vice-President José María Pino Suárez, a rare occurrence school history. In 1914, Walter Thurston, later to become the U.S. Ambassador to Mexico, graduates from The American School.
In 1914, after the United States occupation of Veracruz, so few Americans are left in Mexico City that the high school is closed after the 1915 class graduates, restarting with a freshman class in 1917. One of the six 1915 graduates was Kingsley J. Niven, a school clerk as well as a student who took over as de facto school administrator and ended up signing his own diploma.
In 1921, The American School Association is dissolved and replaced by a non-profit educational institution with a name familiar to all of us today - The American School Foundation, with its duration defined as "in perpetuity." Its purpose was to establish a teaching institution that utilizes the most modern and effective teaching methods used in the United States. Founding members include S. Bolling Wright, Lewis Lamm, Edward Orring, Harry Wright and Charles Cummings.
In 1946, the school acquired the 17-acre Bondojito campus, across the street from ABC Hospital, where it remains to this day. Over the years, the campus has grown to include four libraries, science labs in each school, and over 600 computers in classrooms, three indoor gymnasiums, an indoor heated pool, a football stadium, lighted tennis courts, track, and various athletic fields.
During 1979, a group of American School students form part of the welcoming committee for the February visit to Mexico City of U.S. President Jimmy Carter. Again in 2013, ASF students were invited to hear President Obama’s Speech to Mexican Students at the Anthropology Museum in Mexico City.

Today

The American School Foundation of Mexico City, located in Mexico City, serves students from Kindergarten through 12th grade in four schools: the Early Childhood Center, the Lower School, the Middle School, and the Upper School. The American School Foundation has two primary languages of instruction, English and Spanish. The degree to which each language is reflected in their program varies from level to level. It is their goal that all students become completely bilingual.
ASF is an American school with an international flavor attributable to its diverse enrollment. By nationalities, the student body of 2,500 is approximately 58% Mexican, 21% from the United States with Mexican connections, and 21% from Korea and Latin America. Its campus and facilities, as well as its academic and extracurricular programs, are comparable to independent schools in the United States.
For many years now, ASF has instated the ASF Master Plan in which a new Bus Parking Lot and Upper School were built. During its third and fourth phases, the Angeles Espinosa Yglesias Fine Arts Center and The Mary Street Jenkins Wellness Center were completed, and soon to come are The Vive Saludable by PepsiCo Bleachers.
The ASF is known for its athletic program, with students practicing a great variety of sports on after school activities. Going from track & field, swimming, soccer to American football. Competing in national tournaments against other schools and sport clubs.
The ASF Swimming team is made out of student-athletes, that compete at a local, national and international level, achieving several records and medals. Coach Martha Cordova and Coach Tere Rivera.
The ASF football team known as the Bears, plays games against many Mexican high schools both at home and away. The football stadium in which the Bears play is known as the John Colman stadium, in honor of coach John Colman, whose teams won three consecutive league championships from 1971-1973.
The Soccer team has won several league Championships, becoming one of the most prestigious teams in the city. The soccer team counts with several inductees into the national soccer hall of fame: Jose Alvarez, Matthew Rogers, Jordi Cores, and Manuel Sanchez.

Academics

The American School Foundation is one of the most highly academic, exclusive institutions in Mexico City - with ever impressive IB and AP scores.
The American School Foundation is accredited by the Southern Association of Schools and Colleges. Studies are recognized by the Mexican Secretary of Public Education and high school level studies can be validated by UNAM, useful for students who wish to study in Mexico or another Spanish-speaking country. The American School Foundation is an International Baccalaureate World School offering the Primary Years, Middle Years and Diploma Programs. ASF also offers Advanced Placement courses.
Most students graduate proficient in at least two languages, English and Spanish. Nearly 99% of Upper School graduates attend college.